I Am Real
by Miss Light Bright
Summary: During the apocalypse, a new way of surviving is created: Insert an AI into your mind to help you survive. Hikaru's AI is named Kaoru, just like his dead brother that he never knew. But what if he learns his brother is alive and is much closer than he thinks? Brotherly love, No slash. *hiatus*
1. Chapter 1

Hikaru remembered back before the apocalypse, before the zombies emerged, before people started inserting AIs into their head. It had been a simpler time: his parents had been alive, he had no worries, and he and his friends didn't have to fight for their lives.

It had been he, Haruhi, Kyoya, and Honey against the world. But now, they literally were against the world, fighting off the thousands and thousands of zombies that appeared around Ouran every day.

Things progressed to this very moment quite slowly, actually. The outbreak had started when Hikaru was just 14, infecting people across the world. That's when they first became aware of the flesh-eating dead people. Then when he was 15, his father was dead and he held his mother's hand as she cried bloody tears telling him to find Kaoru. That didn't make sense though because Kaoru died in childbirth. Kaoru had been dead as long as Hikaru has been alive. But those were his mother's parting words and he felt a bit cheated.

Now, while Hikaru was 16, a small group of people developed something miraculous that was saving the last of the humans: AIs. They were these artificial intelligence chips that are inserted into a port just behind your ear and they were these beings that had access to information you did not and could show your mind different maps and visions to help you survive while out fighting against the zombies. They were incredible!

But there was a lot of resistance.

Who wants a piece of technology tracking their every move and manipulating their mind? It sounded terrifying.

Haruhi was the first to get one, just a month ago. She claimed her AI was "annoying as hell" and "made too many puns" but Hikaru had caught her laughing to herself too many times to count which was quite the change for her ever since her dad died. Her AI's name was Tamaki.

Honey was the second to get his AI and his was named "Mori." Honey had said it barely talked and told him not to just loot candy when they went on runs to get supplies, but it seemed good for Honey. He seemed calmer than ever.

Kyoya flat out refused. He said he had no need for one, but that makes sense for a guy who liked to be in control.

And then there was Hikaru. He had finally gave in and he was getting one today. He had traded an immense amount of their supplies for this AI just like the others had and he really hoped it was worth it.

His AI was named "Karou" which Hikaru found extremely creepy when it was the same name as his dead baby twin. But he was excited nonetheless, even though it hurt like hell when he woke up with the port newly drilled into his skull, connected to his brain.

"So how does this work?" Hikaru asked from where he was laying facedown on the surgical table with his head tilted to the right, exposing the port behind his left ear to the surgeon.

"This part is the easy part," the man said. "It's just going to hurt like hell."

"I already hurt like hell," Hikaru said, frowning at the guy and watched as he picked up a small chip with the name "Kaoru" written across the side.

"Well this will hurt more. When the AI connects to your consciousness, it feels as though it is literally grabbing onto your brain. Be prepared."

Hikaru closed his eyes and ignored the man, knowing it be true. Haruhi had talked about how she had never felt anything like it in her life and she hoped she would never have to get Tamaki maintenance.

Breathing out deeply, Hikaru tensed, feeling the surgeon leaning over him until he positioned the chip above the port, ready to be inserted. "Just warn me when you're going to—" Hikaru was cut off as the chip entered the port and suddenly fire engulfed his brain, sending waves of pain down his spinal cord. His brain pulsed with absolute ripping, bleeding agony.

Hikaru burst into sobs, shrinking away and curling into himself and when that didn't quench the pain, he struggled and seized against the table and he distantly felt the surgeon's hands pinning his shoulder against the table. He could hear his feral screams but he almost felt disembodied by the pain.

As quickly as the pain had come, it disappeared, leaving his joints achy and tingling. "Ow…" Hikaru croaked, turning his head against the table, his brain feeling kinda hazy.

The surgeon let go of him but did not step back, just watching him. "You should feel him in a moment."

He was right. In the back of his head, a presence seeped into the fiery residual pain like a cool breeze on a hot day. Eagerly, Hikaru closed his eyes and said out loud, "Hello?"

The only response was a low groan, startling and loud in his mind. It was a voice he never heard before.

"It should take the AI some time to adjust. How are you feeling?"

Hikaru sat up slowly, cautiously touching a finger to his small port. "Just a bit tired."

"That's normal," the doctor said. "Now I would suggest you rest for the rest of the day. The AI should be up and alert fully by tomorrow. If there is something wrong with him, just come back in."

Hikaru nodded, ruffling his hair and hopping off the table. "So that's it?"

"That's it. The port should have no adverse effects on any of your functions and you won't need any time to heal. It's that easy."

Hikaru nodded, grabbing his gun from the nearby chair and threw on his backpack. "Thanks again."

"Stay safe out there."

With that, Hikaru was out the door of the old hospital. The facility was still in good shape and was well protected from the swarms of zombies. As Hikaru left the building, the hospital guards opened the gate for him and he was out into the empty street, running across the street and down the city sidewalk towards his and his friends' makeshift home.

"Hey are you in there?" Hikaru asked the person in his head as he ran along, only slightly out of breath.

The groan came again, almost like the AI was in pain, but Hikaru knew better. AI's can't feel pain…

"Can you hear me?"

 _Can you just… shut up?_ The voice came back, so quiet that Hikaru almost missed it.

Hikaru frowned but did not reply, turning his attention back on the streets as he ran, keeping his eyes open for any movement. Luckily, there was nothing and he made it to the school in no time, jogging up to the front gates, using his key to unlock the gate and closing it shut behind him.

"Hikaru!" Haruhi's voice jolted him and he turned after finishing with the lock.

"Haruhi, don't do that!" he said, pressing a hand to his chest to still his swiftly beating heart. "I'm too tired for this."

She ignored his statement in favor of tilted her head at him questioningly. "So how's your AI?"

"Kaoru? I don't know, he hasn't talked to me yet."

"He'll come around. That first day was the only quiet day I've had since getting Tamaki," she said and then immediately winced, listening to him in her head.

Hikaru walked past her and led the way to their old music room which was now their shared room for sleeping and gathering. "I hope I get to that point. It does feel weird to have someone in my head without them talking."

The feeling was a bit like someone was watching him. Silently, in his head he asked, **Kaoru?**

 _Hikaru._

Hikaru visibly jumped at the sudden reply, startling Haruhi to a stop beside him. "He said something?"

"Yeah," Hikaru said softly, frowning. But Kaoru's voice had sounded tired, like dead tired. "It sounded forced."

"He probably doesn't have a strong enough connection yet. Like I said, just give him some time."

"Hmm," Hikaru hummed, not really paying attention. He was too preoccupied with his AI and trying to get him to speak again.

 **Kaoru, Kaoru. HELLLOOooooooOOOOooo?!**

 _I will kill you if you don't shut up._

"Hikaru would you stop bothering the poor thing?" Haruhi said as they walked into the school and up the main stairs, their footsteps echoing through the empty halls.

"What are you—?"

"Kaoru sent out a distress signal but it was pretty faint. He must not be happy about being in your loud head."

They reached the top of the stairs when the door slammed open, revealing Honey in the doorway to the music room. "Who sent out the distress signal?!" Honey had wide eyes, looking at the two of them for any injuries.

"Hikaru's AI just wants him to shut up," Haruhi said, pushing past him.

Honey visibly relaxed, scratching the back of head happily. "Oh, that's good, Hika!"

"How is that good?" Hikaru asked, following him inside.

Kyoya was off in his corner reading through a stack of books, ignoring them in favor of his research on the AIs. He was convinced there was something wrong with it all and he had been ever since Haruhi had gotten her AI.

Everyone split off into their own corners for the night and Hikaru headed to their food supply to pick out something to eat for the day. He scanned the options and reached for the can of tomatoes.

 _NO! Don't eat those, I HATE tomatoes._

Hikaru's hand froze. **How can you hate something when you've never tasted it?**

Kaoru was silent.

Hikaru continued grabbing the tomatoes and used the can opener to pry it open. When he had it wide open, he scooped one out with his knife. He was determined to show the beauty and flavor of a tomato to his clueless AI. He took a bite.

He immediately blanched, fighting the urge to puke. It was the most disgusting taste Hikaru had ever experienced. He spat it out audibly and his friends looked at him in surprise. "Ugh, Kaoru made it taste bad! Bad, Kaoru! Bad!"

Haruhi had a deep frown on her face and she stepped forward. "Hikaru, AIs shouldn't be able to make things taste differently."

Hikaru didn't know what to say but it didn't matter because suddenly he felt a wall slam down on Kaoru's presence, and suddenly Hikaru felt empty. "Kaoru?" he called frantically. It would suck if his AI broke already. It would probably cost him a fortune to get it fixed. "I can't feel him."

Haruhi and Honey looked just as bewildered. Haruhi gasped, "Tamaki went offline too."

"Same with Mori," Honey said.

Kyoya was watching them with interest but said nothing.

The silence was only for a moment. "Something is seriously wrong," he said as his mind called out, **Kaoru?!**

* * *

 **Hey guys! I'm back and ready to write more for the OHSHC universe!**


	2. Chapter 2

The room was silent as they waited out the emptiness. Honey, Haruhi, and Hikaru sat side by side on the couch, tense, with their legs pulled up to their chin, arms wrapped around them. The uncomfortable quiet had continued for a good twenty minutes since their AIs had left suddenly. Meanwhile, Kyoya regarded them disdainfully.

"Don't you think they are down for maintenance, or rebooting or something?" Kyoya asked logically but he wore a frown that gave him an edge of concern. Maybe he was concerned for the three of them, but he looked almost as spooked by the situation just as they were.

"This has never happened before," Haruhi reasoned. "What if they're gone forever?"

"Surely you could function just as easily with a new one if these ones short-circuited or they…" he trailed off seeing Honey's raging expression.

"It won't be the same without Takashi!"

"Takashi?" Hikaru and Haruhi asked him at the same time.

Honey's face went from angry to sheepish. "Oh! Uh, that's Mori's real name, Takashi Morinozuka. He just likes to be called Mori." He smiled at them.

Haruhi's face shuttered in shock. "AIs don't have last names! Tamaki doesn't. Does Kaoru?" she asked, turning to Hikaru on the couch and grabbing his arm.

"No! At least I don't think so," Hikaru replied quickly. He hadn't even had time to talk with his AI yet.

Silence fell back onto them and Haruhi let go of him as they all leaned back against the couch, contemplating the weirdness that was happening with their AIs. Maybe there was some sort of glitch in their technology that was causing these strange anomalies.

"I've been researching," Kyoya says, interrupting their contemplations to step directly in front of their couch. "I've been researching a way where other users can communicate with the AIs in each other's mind. Even for me who doesn't have a port. This way we could stay more connected to each other."

Hikaru sat straight up, leaning towards Kyoya. "Wait, that's what you were researching?!"

Kyoya fixed his glasses. "What did you think I was doing all this time?"

"I thought you were researching if the AIs were corrupt or were going to take over our minds."

"Yes, I was doing that of course," Kyoya admitted. "But I also wanted an additional project to keep me busy. And if I can gather the right equipment, I believe we can make this happen. I've been working on blue prints for a device we can use to hook up to our computer. Thankfully we have a working generator left in this school, so it should be easy."

"Let's get the supplies!" Honey cried, throwing a fist up into the air.

Suddenly, Hikaru felt a presence pop back into his mind, warm and soothing. He gasped in time with Haruhi and Honey as their AIs reappeared.

 **Kaoru, are you there?**

There was a soft groan that once again sounded like pain and a sound almost like Kaoru was trying to catch his breath. _It's okay, I'm here._

"My AI's back, guys!" Hikaru shouted, turning to his friends. They, however, did not look as excited as him. In fact, they both looked incredibly confused and fearful. "What's wrong?"

"Something's wrong with Takashi, I think," Honey said softly, defaulting to the new name for his AI that he revealed to them. "He won't say anything, he sounds really tired…"

"Tamaki says he needed to reset, there was signal let off by Kaoru that caused them all to shut down and he's still trying to catch up with all the files he stored. It's like… he can't quite tell what happened actually," Haruhi explained, looking at Hikaru.

"So this is Kaoru's fault?" Hikaru asked in disbelief. His AI was causing trouble for his only alive friends and he hadn't even had his AI for a day. Maybe he should trade in his AI for a non-faulty one.

 _Please don't shut me down!_

Hikaru sucked in a breath, his heart pounding, and he instinctively pushed Kaoru's presence away, slammed a cage down around his AI. The cage kept Kaoru out of his consciousness and disconnected.

"I'm taking him out," Hikaru declared to his friends.

Haruhi looked horrified. "Don't do that! It will not only hurt you but it could hurt—"

For once in Hikaru's life, he wished he had listened to his friend. Because when he yanked the chip out of the port, lightning pain shut through his temple, rippling down his spine and into his fingers and toes. He collapsed, Kyoya catching him as he fell, and the chip bounce across the floor and under the couch. The name "Kaoru" glared up at Hikaru where he wheezed against Kyoya.

"Hika, are you okay?" Honey cried.

"That was a stupid thing to do!" Haruhi yelled at Hikaru. They all froze, staring at her in shock. "Didn't you think about Kaoru's feeling at all?" Her eyes flashing with the anger.

"He's not real," Hikaru started.

"He's an _artificial intelligence._ Meaning he does feel pain, he does understand emotions, and he let out the worst distress signal…" she trailed off, glaring at him. "When you put him back in, you better apologize to him."

They glared at each other as Kyoya slowly lowered Hikaru to the floor and then she turned on her heel and stalked off. Hikaru turned his eyes away to the chip and he gathered it up and just looked at it. "I'll put it back in before we go on our run tomorrow," Hikaru assured himself more than them. "I'll try him out for the day and then decide if I should keep him or not." He pocketed the chip and side-stepped Kyoya who was observing him intensely and slipped away to his own corner of the old school.

* * *

Kaoru could not remember a time before being an AI. All he knew was the dark and the silence and the information that had poured through his database when he'd been activated. He did not understand how he had a consciousness when he was just a computer program but he did not question his creators. He just knew that he existed now, regardless of whatever existence he had held before.

Then had come the light and the sounds and the visions… and the overwhelming nausea and pain of occupying this human's mind. The range of emotions were astounding. He could feel that his human… Hikaru… was an angry, sarcastic being but he also knew that he was gentle and compassionate, even if he didn't show it right away.

Kaoru saw the world for the first time through Hikaru's eyes.

Well, maybe it wasn't the first time. He knew the images that appears before him and the sounds and he knew the touch, taste, and scents of the items Hikaru interacted with even before Hikaru experienced them. Maybe these things had been uploaded into Kaoru when he had been created.

But he still did not understand pain.

How could he feel the pain of a thousand suns as he was inserted into this human's mind and the heavy lethargy that came with it? Shouldn't he, as a computer program, feel absolutely nothing? Again, he chose not to try to understand his creators.

Then, when he had tasted that single taste of disgusting tomato, he was pushed backwards into a space far away from the human mind and back into dark and empty space where he all he felt was _pain._ And there were voices, echoing around him with anger, and he could feel more information being pushed into him and other things being taken away. He no longer knew the taste of tomato.

Suddenly Kaoru was pushed back into his host's body and he could not understand why he was breathing so hard. Could he even breathe? Why was there so much pain?

 **Kaoru, are you there?**

Kaoru groaned, breathing hard and fighting harder to answer Hikaru. _It's okay, I'm here._

He backed off from his host to fight against the pain that was flooding him, along with the voices, as he stared out of foreign eyes. He watched Hikaru interact with the others, trapped in the background and not hearing anything as he burned with pain.

" _Are you okay?"_ asked another AI. Tamaki was the name that was identified in his radar.

" _I'm scared,"_ Kaoru whispered back privately, all the while trapped in pain.

Suddenly Hikaru's thoughts came through Kaoru's haze, **Maybe I should trade in my AI for a non-faulty one…**

Panic engulfed Kaoru as he thought of going back into the darkness where there was nothing and accidently broadcasted to everyone, _Please don't shut me down!_

His reaction was not met kindly by his host and suddenly he was being gagged and pushed away into a corner of his mind where Kaoru could not see or hear anything. And not a moment later, he was back into that familiar haunting darkness.

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: Why did I ever leave this fandom to write for others?! The overwhelming supports by the eleven of you that reviewed, hit me hard. I have been struggling with writer's block for a year and now after deciding to write for OHSHC, I was shocked by how many people remember me from my previous stories. I love you guys! I am insanely excited for this new story. Your reactions and reviews have given me new motivation for writing. Thank you everyone and I hope you continue to enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 3

Hikaru stood by the gate, moving his AI chip between his fingers idly. Today was the first run they had had in about two weeks. Hikaru was the only one who had left recently and that was because he had to go to the hospital to get Kaoru. Otherwise they had been pretty good on supplies. But Hikaru's trade for his AI was pricey and they were left with very little. So today's run was not only about getting Kyoya's equipment for his project, but was also to scavenge the area.

"You gonna put him back in?" Haruhi asked, joining him at the gate, loading her gun carefully.

"Before we go, I guess," Hikaru said reluctantly. He actually didn't know if he wanted an AI anymore. The strangeness of having someone in his mind, even if that someone wasn't real, was unsettling.

"The sooner, the better," Haruhi said, clicking the gun into position and then storing it into the holster on her hip. "We don't want to be delayed by any side affects you might have."

Hikaru glared at her but she ignored him. He could tell that she was still upset with him for how he treated his AI yesterday but he still didn't understand that. Was she that attached to these fake beings?

"Fine," he huffed, looking down at the chip in his hand. But he hesitated, looking at the messy scrawl Kaoru's name was written with. It was so odd. Taking a deep breath, he shoved the chip into the slot before he could think more about it. The familiar, piercing pain was instantaneous. Hikaru yanked on his orange locks of his hair as the tsunami of fire burnt its way from his brain down through all four limbs and back again.

When it subsided, Hikaru found himself pressed against the front gate, trembling, with Haruhi holding him up by the shoulders.

And Kaoru was there again, in the back of his mind but the AI said nothing.

Sound finally rushed back to Hikaru and he heard his own rapid breathing. He focused on the sound and pushed Haruhi aside, "I'm—I'm fine," he forced out between breaths.

"Right," she said. "Of course…" She waited for him to calm down and stared at him all the while. "Well?"

"Well, what?" Hikaru snapped back.

"Are you going to apologize to him?"

"Who's to say I haven't?"

She frowned at him. "That much is obvious. You don't have that constipated look on your face like any other time you have to do something you're uncomfortable with."

"I'm going, I'm going," Hikaru said, annoyed. Then he closed his eyes, switching to talking to his AI mentally. **Hey, Kaoru. I just want to let you know—.**

 _Don't bother. I'm fine._ The other voice snapped back.

Hikaru's eyes snapped open in shock and he gaped at Haruhi. He found himself saying out loud, "You're not a very nice AI, are you?"

 _Look, it's obvious that we won't be best friends any time soon. Let's not talk to each other unless we have to, okay?_

A surge of outrage overtook Hikaru. **Hey! Shouldn't I be the one who's pissed here?**

Kaoru didn't reply. Just a general feeling of annoyance filled the corners of Hikaru's mind.

"He hates me," Hikaru told Haruhi, pulling himself out of his mind.

"Of course he does, you're the one who yanked him out."

Hikaru was about to snap back when Honey and Kyoya appeared from around the corner, heading towards them. Honey jumped up in the air, waving at them. "You guys won't believe what Kyoya has planned for the AIs! He says we will be able to see what our AIs look like when he's finished!"

Hikaru grimaced. "That makes no sense. These are made up people."

"You're no fun, Hikaru!" Honey whined, stomping his foot. It was a strange sight to see for a little guy like him with a gun and a knife strapped to his leg. "Our AIs will be able to make up what they look like and they'll be able to… what did you say it was, Kyoya?"

Kyoya crossed his arms, approaching the gate. "They'll be able to occupy other spaces than just your own minds. You could even exchange AIs without taking the chips out. But that's still a work in progress. Let's get the supplies first, clear?"

The three nodded, watching as he unlocked the gate, pushing it open with a creak. He didn't let go of it when he turned to face them, not letting them by yet. "Yeah, yeah, we know the plan," Hikaru said before Kyoya could say anything.

"And what is your job?" Kyoya questioned as if asking a small child.

Hikaru groaned. "I'll lead the group. When we get to the town square, I'll split off with Haruhi to get food and the rest of the supplies. I have the list right here," he recited, pulling a small sheet from his front of his pocket and holding it up for them all to see.

"And I'll be in the rear," Haruhi continued. "I'll be watching from behind. My job is to make sure Hikaru doesn't forget anything like he usually does."

"Hey!" Hikaru cried.

"And I'll be on the left middle!" Honey said enthusiastically. "With you being on the right, Kyoya. We'll be checking the tech shops for the parts you need."

Kyoya nodded, clearly satisfied with their recitation. "Okay, remember, we haven't seen a lot of zombies around lately but you still have to be on your guard. Just because there isn't a lot around lately doesn't mean there won't be any hiding or that there won't be an unexpected group of them. We'll just take this slowly, okay?"

"Got it," Hikaru said in unison with his friends.

 _Careful,_ Kaoru said suddenly. _There's two nearby._

 **Where?** Hikaru asked as he walked past Kyoya to lead the group out into the empty street.

 _To the East. They're within range, probably three blocks away._

 **But you don't know the exact location?**

 _Our monitors don't work that way,_ Kaoru said a little hesitantly, as if unsure of himself.

"Geez, what use are you then?" Hikaru said out loud. He immediately regretted his words as he caught Haruhi and Honey's disappointed expressions.

"Would you stop bullying the poor thing?" Haruhi said.

"I'm not!" Hikaru snapped back, walking backwards between the abandoned cars that lined the road in order to talk to his friends.

 _One up ahead._

Hikaru spun from where he was looking back at his group and drew his gun. He caught sight of the zombie, shuffling along the sidewalk away from them. It had not yet noticed them.

 _Don't shoot it._

Hikaru hesitated, his finger on the trigger. **Why?**

He didn't get his answer from Kaoru because Haruhi stepped up to his side and said the same thing, "Don't shoot it. The noise could attract more."

Hikaru nodded his agreement and gestured for them to follow with his gun. They slipped down a side road, away from the lone zombie and towards the city center. Besides that one oblivious zombie, Hikaru came to notice that there really weren't that many zombies out here. He wondered silently what had happened to them all.

 _Don't get too comfortable_ , Kaoru told him. _There's a lot of things my scanners cannot capture. A zombie could come around this corner without me sensing it._

 **How is that possible?**

Hikaru stumbled in his walk when suddenly a map was pulled up over the corner of his eyes, in his vision but not blocking it. It was a radar of sorts, not showing exact locations but it made a sweeping motion, detecting little red dots within in their proximity, presumably zombies. The green dots appeared to be humans.

 _It's not a perfect system,_ Kaoru warned. _This is GPS technology we have access to and it scans for movement. Anything moving is marked in red. If the movement has an AI signal, it will be changed to green. So that's why there's a red dot so close to us. That's your friend… Kyoya, was it? Anyway, if a zombie stands still, it could be hidden to our sensors completely._

 **So we're going in blind.**

Kaoru didn't reply but he left the map up in Hikaru's vision as if sensing that Hikaru didn't want to talk anymore. That, or he was getting pissed by Hikaru's continuous belittling of his abilities. Hikaru only felt slightly guilty for doing it.

Soon enough, they reached the edge of the city square where the large grocery store stood. It had been virtually looted empty, but they were constantly finding new places inside they hadn't looked before that held a stray can or two. Finding the tech would be the easy part. Not many people had use for that anymore.

"You guys ready?" Hikaru asked, pausing at the edge of the alley they stood in.

"Ready as we'll ever be," Haruhi said softly while the others gave him a nod.

Hikaru took a deep breath. He could feel the familiar anticipation like a promise: He was going to kill something today.

* * *

 **Thanks to everyone who reminded me to update! I had a crazy last few weeks! I had a last minute trip to Disney world, worked 58 hours in one week, and some personal family issues! Talk about exhausting. I should be fine now and continue to update regularly. Though this weekend I'm going to Comic Con, so I'm hoping to update shortly after that. Thanks guys!**


	4. Chapter 4

Hikaru clicked the safety off on his gun and the rest of the group followed his lead. Part of being out here was being ready at all times because the moment you're caught unprepared is the moment you're dead. "Let's go," Hikaru said, moving forward and guiding the group out into the street towards the large parking lot that stretched far ahead of them. Hikaru hated parking lots. They were like sitting ducks out here.

In this world that was so devoid of sound, Hikaru still had not gotten used to the silence. The wind against the trees and the stomp of their boots were the only things to be heard. Then again, that made it easier to recognize when a particularly noisy zombie was on its way.

Halfway across the parking lot, a new row of older buildings came into view. Those buildings held the tech shops and the hardware shops. Immediately Kyoya and Honey broke off, heading in that direction while Hikaru and Haruhi continued forward.

The grocery store's doors had long been broken open with nothing stopping the zombies pouring in. As they approached it Hikaru's eyes flicked over the scanner in the corner of his eye. There didn't appear to be anything on the radar except Kyoya's red dot next to Honey's green. "We're clear," Hikaru said to Haruhi, taking faith in the radar and running through the open doors with no hesitation. He had to hand one thing to Kaoru… this radar certainly makes going on runs faster.

"Where should we check first?" Haruhi asked, slowing to a stop in the entrance of the mega mart.

"I swear we've checked everywhere possible in this dump," Hikaru said, looking down the empty aisles.

Haruhi nodded her agreement. "Tamaki says we didn't check the baby section last time."

Hikaru made a face. "Like baby food and crap?"

 _Don't be such a whiny shit and do what you need to survive,_ Kaoru piped up.

 **Shut up, Kaoru.**

 _Hey, as long as I'm in here, you can't let yourself die. Otherwise I'm dead too…_ He trailed off, sounding more serious with every word.

Hikaru followed Haruhi into the baby section mulling over Kaoru's words. He'd never thought about AIs in that context before. What did happen to an AI after their host died? He knew that they're just computer generated beings, but it was hard to imagine that someone as lively as Kaoru could just cease to exist.

They walked down a row of what used to be baby food but the shelves were as expected, cleared out. Haruhi steered them down the baby toy aisles and used her gun to push things out of the way, checking behind the objects for any stray jars. Hikaru set to work on the opposite side, pushing toys off the shelves with a clatter.

They went at this for a while, hardly finding anything at all. After 6 rows, they only found two jars of mashed banana and Hikaru was not too particularly thrilled about it. They moved on and wandered a few random aisles and continued their fruitless search.

"We gotta find new places to hit," Hikaru said as they walked down the empty frozen foods section, wrinkling his nose at the dead corpses of zombies in the aisles that stunk of rotting flesh.

"I was thinking we should search more houses," she replied.

Hikaru nodded but grimaced at the thought. The whole reason they'd stopped was due to the fact that they had stumbled upon another group of people that went psycho on them. They were lucky to make it out alive actually.

 _Hikaru._

Hikaru perked up from Kaoru's wistful tone, fulling of longing. **What?** he asked, alarmed.

 _You have to eat that,_ was Kaoru's reply. Kaoru almost forced Hikaru's gaze to settle on a can of peaches sitting almost completely out of sight on top of one of the metal freezers. Hikaru suspected that it was incredibly dusty from being up there for so long, but he pretty impressed that Kaoru had spotted that when it had originally been only in the corner of his vision. _I love peaches._ A warm feeling enveloped Hikaru and suddenly he was taken away into a scene where he sat on the curb of a sidewalk under the shadow of a fence with a high barb-wired fence. On all sides of him were children lined down the expanse of the building, all eating peaches. A heated summer breeze washed over Hikaru like a dream.

A second later the vision was gone.

"Hikaru?" Haruhi questioned, staring at him.

Hikaru flicked his eyes away from the peaches and at his friend, bewildered. "What the hell was that?" Hikaru said with a frown.

"What?" she asked, her voice coming taut, as if expecting something bad.

Hikaru looked back at the peaches, so high up. "Kaoru just gave me a vision of peaches," he said, gesturing to their hiding place up above. Haruhi followed his gaze. "It was like a memory. These kids were all sitting outside, eating the peaches, and there was wind and I could _feel_ it against my face. Is that normal for AIs? To have visions so real that they feel like memories?"

 _Maybe it was something uploaded into my database,_ Kaoru said, but he sounded more panicked with every word. Then he said, much quieter and full of misery, _I don't want to go back into the dark._

Haruhi was gaping at him. "What do you mean? Your AI has _memories?_ "

Hikaru ignored her, suddenly concerned with the words Kaoru had said about darkness, but he shook it off. They would have to worry about things like that later. "I'm going to get that." He felt that he needed to calm Kaoru down. He could feel Kaoru's fear like a thick haze.

Clicking his safety on, he holstered his gun and looked for a way to climb the freezers. Seeing nothing directly, Hikaru took a running jump and clung onto the edge of the freezer. He dug his shoe against the metal handles and hauled himself upwards, struggling with all his might to get on top of the freezer. "The things… I do for you," Hikaru hissed aloud to Kaoru as he finally made it up, rolling onto his back with a huff. Rolling again, Hikaru grabbed the peaches. "These better taste as good as you think they are, Kaoru," and he shoved the can into his backpack.

"Umm, Hikaru?" Haruhi said worriedly.

He looked down at her, zipping up his bag. "Yeah?"

"Tamaki's radar just went down," she said, her tone rising, "and he can't get it back up."

Hikaru froze, finally noticing in his own vision that his radar was gone as well. "Kaoru?"

 _Something is very wrong,_ Kaoru said in a small voice. _It's because of me._

A loud bang as something was knocked over somewhere inside drew his and Haruhi's attention to the front of the store. "What do you see up there?" she hissed quietly.

Hikaru stood up and his heart sunk. There were a lot of them, more than Hikaru could count. A hoard of zombies and they were the silent type. They were the ones that traveled in almost silent packs and they were the type that didn't go necessarily slow and seemed to move in close to a lopsided walking pace. But that didn't explain how no one had noticed them approach until they were already in the store. "We need to go," Hikaru said, backing up to the edge of the freezer. "How do we get out of here besides the front door?"

"An emergency exit or through the warehouse?" Haruhi said.

Hikaru looked back at the hoard. They were almost upon their row, as if sensing that they were there. "No time. We need to hide!"

Haruhi was already ahead of him and yanked open the freezer doors and stepped into the stale hot heat of the inside of the broken freezer. The door settled shut just as the first zombie made its appearance down the aisle. Hikaru instinctively dropped to his stomach against the dusty freezer and slowly took out his gun, holding it at the ready and pointed at the zombies as they made their way towards them. He ignored the little shake of his hand as he watched them approach Haruhi's hiding place.

Haruhi was in plain sight but if she held still enough and didn't make a sound, maybe they would simply pass her up. But it looked like it was almost a struggle for her to keep herself from bumping the door in front of her. There isn't a lot of room inside a freezer, pressed against a bunch of empty shelves.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion for Hikaru as they finally came upon her, not sparing her a glance. Hikaru kept his gun on the area near her just in case.

There were zombies all around the store now, all spread out but the ones in their aisle were getting further and further away. Then it happened. Hikaru watches in horror as Haruhi adjusted her footing, causing her to stumble just a little bit and pushing the glass door open just a few inches and then it closed with a slap.

It sounded like a gun shot in the quiet.

They all turned in tandem, spotting her from the new noise. In an instant her glass case was surrounded by the silent monsters that eyed her with malicious hunger. Finally, Haruhi lost her nerve and pressed backwards into the fragile shelves making an even louder clang.

 _We have to get her out of there!_ Kaoru yelled into his mind just as a loud signal screeched for a split second. _Tamaki's distress signal._

"Got it!" Hikaru said, standing. His movement caught some of monsters' attention and they turned on him, finally snarling as they smelled their prey.

Hikaru unleashed a flurry of bullets into the skulls of the zombies nearest to him but it was drawing the attention to them across the store and the sounds were getting louder. A clang rattled Haruhi's freezer as they hit the surface of the glass case. No longer holding in her terror, she cried out clutching at her gun but not using it. If she shot through the glass, she would be exposed.

"Look at me you bastards!" Hikaru hollered, taking more shots into the growing mass of zombies. The bullets hit their targets easily, splattering flesh across the glass and across the greasy floor.

Without warning a zombie finally crashed through the glass door of Haruhi's hiding places and grasped onto her arm. She began to fire her gun forward, further shattering the glass.

"No!" Hikaru cried as she was surrounded on all sides, the zombies yanking her out onto the floor. Her image disappeared beneath the bodies and her scream was piercing and haunting. He jumped from his vantage point and landed into the crowd. "Haruhi!" He went crazy, shooting everything around him, trying to fight his way through the crowd to his friend. A zombie came at him, grabbing at his arm with the gun and Hikaru was forced to shoot upwards at the ceiling. He grabbed at the zombie with his other arm, trying to force him off.

The thing, with its unexpected strength, pushed him backwards into the opposite freezer and the impact forced him to drop his gun. He heard more shots being fired by Haruhi and he felt a faint sense of relief while he grabbed his knife and stabbed ferociously at them.

 **Kaoru, what do I do?!**

But he was taken down by another zombie as it threw all of its weight onto him. He fell, his knife disappearing from his hand, and his head hitting the concrete floor with a crack.

And he was out like a light.


End file.
